CityLife

Little Boots

Little Boots at the Night & Day

GIRL next door Victoria Hesketh, aka Little Boots, is an unlikely pop star. And it’s not just because she doesn’t really look the part.

She’s been hailed as the one to watch in 2009; not just a name in the top 10 – she topped the poll. And yet she’s still a good three months off releasing an album and is yet to play a full-length headline gig.

By her own admission, her billing as the main attraction at the JD Set means she, her synths man and drummer are playing their longest show ever – a full nine tracks, each a little over three minutes.

Shoes

Magical is her statement of intent, a 1980s-throwback, Italo-disco opportunity to shake it in her gold lame dress, and New In Town a taster of the next single in store – a track so poppy, you can imagine Girls Aloud giving it a go.

She is a girl with Kylie-esque proportions who barely scrapes the five foot mark and has famously small, size three feet - petite dimensions that almost derail her Night & Day performance.

"My mum, bless her, forgot my shoes. I had to run round screaming, ‘Has anyone got a size three in Manchester?’," recounts Blackpool-born Hesketh, dedicating Every Little Earthquake to the Mancunian who came up trumps.

Blow out

It’s not the only thing that lets her down. Her trademark Tenori-On refuses to work and a sonically glorious version of her Sylvia Plath-inspired pop lament Mathematics results in a major speaker blow out during Click.

Like the trooper she is, though, she opts for belting it out a cappella and roping the crowd in on backing vocals. And it’s probably this – her resourcefulness, the same instinct that made her post up her home videos on YouTube – that means she’ll live up the hype.

And if not, Stuck On Repeat, her Donna Summer-like closing number and debut single, will be a one hit wonder to be incredibly proud of.